Nanette K. Wenger, MD, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2013 National Lipid Association (NLA) Honorary Lifetime Member Award.
The National Lipid Association is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary medical society focused on enhancing the practice of lipid management in clinical medicine. With more than 3,000 active members the field of lipid management continues to evolve in response to changes in our nation’s population risk profile as a result of aging and increased obesity rates.
The Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at the NLA Annual Scientific Sessions held in Las Vegas earlier this month is given to a scientist or clinician who lends prestige to the NLA by virtue of their extraordinary expertise and contributions to the field of clinical lipidology.
Internationally recognized as a leading authority on coronary heart disease in women, Dr. Wenger has accumulated dozens of prestigious awards throughout her illustrious career. Her greatest legacy is changing the face of cardiology. In 1993, Dr. Wenger coauthored a landmark article in the New England Journal of Medicine that aggressively addressed the prejudice that heart disease was a man's disease. Today, as a result of Dr. Wenger’s pioneering clinical and research efforts, cardiovascular disease is recognized as the number one killer of women in the United States accounting for 38 percent of all female deaths, higher mortality than all forms of cancers combined.
“Coronary risk reduction has had a major favorable effect on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the U.S. Prominent among this favorable risk reduction has been lipid lowering, and a leader in the area has been the National Lipid Association, with its emphasis on education, patient care, advocacy, and research. I am delighted to be a part of this premier group.” says Dr. Wenger who co-authored the 2005 New England Journal of Medicine article “Intensive lipid lowering with atorvastatin in patients with stable coronary disease.”
A native of New York City and a graduate of Hunter College and the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Wenger received her medical and cardiology training at Mount Sinai Hospital before coming to Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital in 1958. Since then she has been a trailblazer and icon in the field of cardiology as author and co-author of more than 1,400 scientific and review articles and book chapters.